Stephen Jarocki (Author of A Mage's Mentor)

Stephen Jarocki rated a book liked it Symphony of Scars by Corbin Rook (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Unfortunately, I didn’t really like this book. It does a lot of things right, but I feel it makes some errors in places that I weigh quite heavily. The book has some great moments, but I found myself getting annoyed quite often, which ended up spoili ...more
Oct 14, 2026 07:58AM · like · see review
Stephen Jarocki rated a book really liked it Murder Makes Great Headlines: She never meant to inspire a killer... by Echo Kyah	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a fairly pleasant book. It was pretty fun to read, and kept things moving. It felt perhaps a bit too tropey for me, but a murder mystery (with some romance) seems like the type of story that might lean that way, so I don’t count it against t ...more
Sep 29, 2026 04:34PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Murder Makes Great Headlines by Echo Kyah. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Murder Makes Great Headlines by Echo Kyah <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing The Patchwork Storyteller: The Asha Chronicles Book 1 by Michael V. Knapp (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a fairly pleasant book. It was easy to read and, for lack of a better word, simple. That might sound negative, but I feel the simplicity fit well into the story that was being told. This book certainly leans toward a more cozy feel, and is p ...more
Sep 24, 2026 04:43PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Patchwork Storyteller by Michael V. Knapp. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Patchwork Storyteller by Michael V. Knapp <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing The Lattice Scheme: A Dream Interrogation Thriller (The Unseen Operative Book 1) by A.L. Lieske (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a really solid book (both in that it was a good read and in that it would function well as a doorstop). I quite enjoyed reading it and was always eager to come back to it each day. This isn’t in any way the type of book I’d normally read (it ...more
Sep 14, 2026 04:14PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Lattice Scheme by A.L. Lieske. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Lattice Scheme by A.L. Lieske <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Jarocki and 1 other person liked Shattered Anthologies's review of A Mage's Mentor (Ucksil's Folly Book 1): "A Mage’s Mentor is an enjoyable fantasy adventure that combines mystery, magic and a deeply personal journey of self-discovery. Sinccah’s search for the truth about her mother and her past gives the story a strong emotional core, and I found myself g" Read more of this review »
Aug 31, 2026 03:58PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Mage's Mentor by Stephen Jarocki. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Mage's Mentor by Stephen Jarocki <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing DragonForged by Justin C. Orr (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book was pretty cool. It’s incredibly short (55 pages), but still manages to make things quite interesting. Put simply, this book is a creation myth for the stories that come after (presumably). As such, this book remains fairly simple, though i ...more
Aug 18, 2026 03:53PM · 1 like · like · see review
Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing Aether Guardian: The Mark of Shadows by Joshua Bush (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I really liked this book. It’s sort of a strange story, but I never had any significant issues while reading it. I wanted to come back each night and I wanted to see where the story went. Maybe I’m just a sucker for this kind of story, but I had a gr ...more
Aug 15, 2026 02:35PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Aether Guardian by Joshua Bush. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Aether Guardian by Joshua Bush <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing Born of Broken Chains: Book 1 of the Gifted Era Wars by Sam Larson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book was quite good. Everything flowed nicely, and it was generally fun to read. It did take me a fair amount of time to get through, but that is mostly because my life got needlessly busy during this time. This was still a nice book to come bac ...more
Aug 09, 2026 09:55AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Stephen Jarocki rated a book really liked it The Coldwater Job: A Crucible of Legacy Novella by Mike Cahoon (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a fairly good book. It moved along quickly, and I felt the action was handled well (which is good, since most of the book is action). It is a novella, which certainly had pros and cons, but the story was quite interesting. I felt the main ca ...more
Jul 22, 2026 03:08PM · 3 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Coldwater Job by Mike Cahoon. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Coldwater Job by Mike Cahoon <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing Crownfall by Michael Vadney (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
So, this book is GOOD. If you’ve never heard of it, you should check it out immediately. If you’ve been thinking about reading this book, just do it. Basically everything in this book is great, and I struggled a fair bit to come up with anything I di ...more
Jun 04, 2026 03:22PM · 3 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Crownfall by Michael Vadney. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Crownfall by Michael Vadney <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Stephen Jarocki rated a book liked it

Symphony of Scars
by Corbin Rook (Goodreads Author)

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Unfortunately, I didn’t really like this book. It does a lot of things right, but I feel it makes some errors in places that I weigh quite heavily. The book has some great moments, but I found myself getting annoyed quite often, which ended up spoili Unfortunately, I didn’t really like this book. It does a lot of things right, but I feel it makes some errors in places that I weigh quite heavily. The book has some great moments, but I found myself getting annoyed quite often, which ended up spoiling my enjoyment. It was fairly easy to come back to each day, but I felt I was mostly rage-reading in the hopes of getting resolution that often didn’t quite come.

The characters in this story are pretty good. Lia, in particular, was great to follow. She has an interesting story and most of the best moments of the book. Marcus is fairly solid, and with one glaring exception, is a fun character to root for. The villain character was alright, but he felt a bit flat to me for the amount of time we spent in his head. He filled his role well enough, but I sort of wish the time we spent with him could have been used elsewhere. His villainous schemes also felt a bit … flawed, which, to me, was made awkward by having a significant portion of the book in his POV.

The world was reasonably cool. The two factions both felt like they had some uniqueness and it was nice to explore them. Unfortunately, I feel the story didn’t actually do that much exploring. It mostly set a baseline and then spent a lot of time in places where most of the culture mattered very little (with the notable exception of the Scorned situation). I felt the magic had a similar problem. It is music-based, which is super cool, but it mostly stops being meaningful after the first portion of the book (admittedly for a good reason). After that, it felt more like a metallurgical magic system, which was still somewhat cool, but not really what I was looking for.

As for the plot. I feel the general, overarching plot was reasonably good. However, most of the details between those major plot points felt rather contrived to me. I’ll qualify this by saying that I have been cursed with a tendency to heavily interrogate plot points, contrivances, character decisions, and internal consistency. If you don’t do that, I suspect this book will work a lot better for you. As it was, I couldn’t quite get over the issues in the plot, which led me to get annoyed quite often. I felt a lot of items simply didn’t hold up to scrutiny very well, and, to me, felt like a somewhat faulty bridge to get the story to the next major plot point.

Given that the previous content was rather harsh, I figured I’d change up my normal flow here and talk about some of the items I specifically did like (as opposed to issues I had). Firstly, I liked how the book handled characters who were hard of hearing and/or unable to speak. I felt it did a good job of representing the dehumanizing forces that worked against them, and the little communities they were able to make in spite of it. Secondly, I liked the way our main heroes had to address their own feelings toward the Scorned (enslaved social outcasts). It felt reasonably realistic, and had a lot of heart behind it. Thirdly, I think Lia’s struggle with the horror that was inflicted on her was pretty good, though I wish there would have been more of it on the page.

Altogether, I think the book is probably reasonably good, but it wasn’t for me. There are some great moments, but the issues related to the plot, along with an epilogue that somewhat undermines our heroes’ accomplishments, was simply too much for me. If you’re the type of person who is able to skate over the particular plot issues this story has, I think you’ll find a lot to like. However, if you’re like me and tend to interrogate the plot as you read, I, unfortunately, can’t recommend this book to you. ...more

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Murder Makes Great Headlines by Echo Kyah

Murder Makes Great Headlines: She never meant to inspire a killer...
by Echo Kyah

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This was a fairly pleasant book. It was pretty fun to read, and kept things moving. It felt perhaps a bit too tropey for me, but a murder mystery (with some romance) seems like the type of story that might lean that way, so I don’t count it against t This was a fairly pleasant book. It was pretty fun to read, and kept things moving. It felt perhaps a bit too tropey for me, but a murder mystery (with some romance) seems like the type of story that might lean that way, so I don’t count it against this particular story. Regardless, the book drew me in well and I was eager to come back to it each night.

The characters here are quite good, and the main characters certainly pull their weight. I don’t generally like snarky characters that much (I tend to get annoyed rather than amused), but Amanda worked pretty well for me. She felt appropriately unique, and made for an interesting (and appropriately eccentric) POV character. “Logan” (if that’s even his name) felt odd to me, but I suspect that was planned. He is sort of nice, but it ends up a bit confusing given what he does in the book. Still, he is intriguing, which works really well. Beyond the two of them, the side characters are quite well done and all feel like their own people.

As for plot, I feel this worked pretty well. I had my suspicions, which held for a long time before being twisted around for the climax. I wouldn’t say the ending shocked me, but there was enough going on toward the end of the story to make me uncertain, so that part mostly worked. There was perhaps a lull in plot progression in the middle, but there was enough going on that it didn’t really bother me.

As for issues, I have a few minor items and one larger one. Namely, the characters (several of them) make a few rather odd choices that just didn’t feel logical to me. That said, I tend to judge decisions based on what I would do (as opposed to what the character would do), so this is likely more of a personal issue. Beyond that somewhat larger issue, I felt the story resolved itself a little too much. The characters do things, but the plot could have resolved in a similar way without much action at all (though, maybe giving the mystery some red herrings was a good choice). Had the story been slower, this would have been a bigger issue, but given that things move quickly, I barely noticed it. Finally, I found the “author getting caught in her own mystery” theme just a tiny bit cheesy. It still worked pretty well, but it wasn’t quite the theme I would have wanted. That said, I suspect a more seasoned reader of this genre might find it a rather fresh idea.

Altogether, I enjoyed this book. It clearly wasn’t quite aimed at me, but I still had a good time. The characters were rather fun to follow, and the story resolved enough to be satisfying while still hinting at more (I suspect much more). It was an easy read, and certainly fun while it lasted. ...more

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The Patchwork Storyteller by Michael V. Knapp

The Patchwork Storyteller: The Asha Chronicles Book 1
by Michael V. Knapp (Goodreads Author)

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This was a fairly pleasant book. It was easy to read and, for lack of a better word, simple. That might sound negative, but I feel the simplicity fit well into the story that was being told. This book certainly leans toward a more cozy feel, and is p This was a fairly pleasant book. It was easy to read and, for lack of a better word, simple. That might sound negative, but I feel the simplicity fit well into the story that was being told. This book certainly leans toward a more cozy feel, and is presumably targeted at a younger age range. Still, it was an enjoyable read that I had no trouble returning to.

The characters in the story played their roles well. None of them were super complex, but all the main characters were unique in their personalities and struggles. Beyond that, the relationships between the characters worked well for me and fit nicely into the cozy vibe.

The world of this story was interesting. It is (or at least seems to be) a simple system of good vs. evil (Harmony vs. Chaos), and this battle is forged into the world itself (as well as the magic). The world had enough backstory to feel real, and the stories told about the history were cool. The magic itself was a bit vague for my taste (in regards to what it could do), but the general system of being “in tune” with Harmony had pretty cool implications.

The plot here was good. It is a simple tale of a village being returned to their roots and coming back together (with the help of a mentor) to reclaim their small place in the world. Certainly a more cozy tale, but there was a good amount of conflict with the forces (and whispers) of Chaos to keep things interesting.

As for elements I didn’t care for, I have two minor ones: Firstly, there are a lot of characters and I found myself forgetting who some of them were. This is really only a problem with the minor characters, but there were still a lot of names to try to keep track of. It somewhat makes sense in the context of a small village (where everyone would realistically know each other), but I sort of wish some of the minor characters either got more time or less. Secondly, the epilogue was a bit tonally off from the rest of the book. It was a lot more disturbing and certainly there as sequel bait. I can’t really say this was a mistake, as it is good business to give readers a pull to the next book, but this epilogue felt like it would have been better as a prologue in the next book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t really what I’d normally look for in a story, but I feel it played its part well. That said, it was intended to be a cozy story, and it was nice to read it as a bit of a break from more heavy books. If you are looking for a simpler tale that leans toward the cozy (or if you are looking for something that you children can enjoy with you), I think this book would make for a good match. ...more

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The Lattice Scheme: A Dream Interrogation Thriller (The Unseen Operative Book 1)
by A.L. Lieske (Goodreads Author)

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This was a really solid book (both in that it was a good read and in that it would function well as a doorstop). I quite enjoyed reading it and was always eager to come back to it each day. This isn’t in any way the type of book I’d normally read (it This was a really solid book (both in that it was a good read and in that it would function well as a doorstop). I quite enjoyed reading it and was always eager to come back to it each day. This isn’t in any way the type of book I’d normally read (it's a contemporary-ish sci-fi thriller), but in this case I’m quite glad I did.

The characters in this book function well. People mostly make intelligent decisions and it is fun to follow them to their conclusions. The characters felt like real people, and it was intriguing to get to know them over the course of the book. I did find Azure to be a bit prickly at the start of the book, but it wasn’t really disruptive and eventually made her a really interesting character. Mr. Granger was also a bit odd at first, but he developed in a compelling way. Oh, and Wagner was a really cool character. Very mysterious, but incredibly interesting.

The world, such as it was, got the job done. It is sort of silly to talk about worldbuilding in a story set in the “real” world, but I feel it merits some notes. Technically, this story is set hundreds of years from now after a third World War and a regression in technology and culture. In practice, it reads much like a contemporary story that just happens to have alternate historical events. That might sound a bit mediocre, but I feel it served the story really well. It allowed for the world to be different without some cheesy science being secretly done in the 1900s. The dreamwalking was a really cool concept (along with the historic dream trials), and the way it was used in the story made things very interesting.

As for the plot, I feel this is the clear standout of this book. I was constantly engaged, but not so desperate to learn more that reading this book ruined my life. I appreciate how the book mostly avoided cliffhanging chapters, but still made me want to come back each and every night. In that, this book deserves considerable praise, as finding the balance can be pretty tricky. The plot had a lot of layers to dig through, and it was super cool to slowly unravel them and figure out the truth (probably). I consider myself a bit of a plot snob, but this one really worked for me. I enjoyed the mystery, and I enjoyed the nature of the suspense. Overall, a great plot that kept me fully invested.

Regarding issues, I really only had a few minor ones: Firstly, the opening to the story is a little slow. It helps establish the characters, but I felt it dragged on a little. Once the main story starts going, the pacing worked really well, but the opening is a lot to get through. Secondly, I did find myself tripping over the words from time to time. This book has an odd quirk of sometimes sounding like a “classic” in that the sentence has the words in the “wrong” order (as it typical of really old books). In some ways it made the prose more interesting, but I still stumbled, which wasn’t great (though, a stronger reader might not have any issues).

Overall, I really liked this book, which is good, because it is huge (740 pages). Which is particularly insane because it is part of a series that appears to be getting at least two more books. Though, I feel if you skip the epilogue, this makes for a reasonably good standalone. Nevertheless, I’m quite glad I spent the time reading this one. It’s long, but it was fun to read the entire time. I don’t really know enough about the genre to recommend it based on that, but if you like good books that are consistently interesting without overwhelming your life, I’d recommend this one. ...more

Stephen Jarocki and 1 other person liked Shattered Anthologies's review of A Mage's Mentor (Ucksil's Folly Book 1):

"A Mage’s Mentor is an enjoyable fantasy adventure that combines mystery, magic and a deeply personal journey of self-discovery. Sinccah’s search for the truth about her mother and her past gives the story a strong emotional core, and I found myself g" Read more of this review »

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DragonForged
by Justin C. Orr (Goodreads Author)

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This book was pretty cool. It’s incredibly short (55 pages), but still manages to make things quite interesting. Put simply, this book is a creation myth for the stories that come after (presumably). As such, this book remains fairly simple, though i ...more

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Aether Guardian: The Mark of Shadows
by Joshua Bush (Goodreads Author)

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I really liked this book. It’s sort of a strange story, but I never had any significant issues while reading it. I wanted to come back each night and I wanted to see where the story went. Maybe I’m just a sucker for this kind of story, but I had a gr I really liked this book. It’s sort of a strange story, but I never had any significant issues while reading it. I wanted to come back each night and I wanted to see where the story went. Maybe I’m just a sucker for this kind of story, but I had a great time reading this one.

Mostly, that was due to the characters. Or really just one character: Cecilia. The other characters played their roles well, but Cecilia really carried this book. She finds herself labeled a heretic by the city she loves, and spends the rest of the story being bullied by the people who ought to have supported her. It’s honestly really sad, but I found it really compelling to read about. I desperately wanted the other characters to realize that she wasn’t some sort of monster, and that tension is enough to carry basically all other aspects of the book. As noted, the other characters are solid as well. I didn’t find any of them particularly special, but they still (generally) felt like real people.

The world where this story takes place is interesting. I sort of wanted it to go a different way, but it’d be too big of a spoiler to say what I mean. I honestly didn’t feel the world got that much depth, but I didn’t mind it either. There was enough there for me to assume there could be more and I never got bogged down by the stuff that was or wasn’t there. The magic was pretty cool though (particularly the aspect that got Cecilia labeled a traitor). This one aspect of the world does get developed a lot (as one might expect), and it was pretty cool to learn alongside the characters.

The plot here gets the job done. It didn’t really stand out, but it allowed the characters to shine, which I suspect was the important part. This plot is basically an inciting incident, a rather long training montage, and a climax. And you know what? It totally worked for me. If Cecilia was less interesting, I suspect the plot would have been a bit meh, but as it was, the plot worked for me. There is more stuff going on in the background that honestly didn’t make much sense (presumably some sequel bait), but it felt interesting enough.

As for issues, I have a few minor ones: There are some “flashbacks” to Cecilia’s previous classes to explain how magic (or other stuff) works, and I found them somewhat uninteresting. They communicated the information, and they were reasonably short, but I feel they could have been done in a more compelling way. Secondly, there is a section where the villains just sort of act cartoonishly evil, which felt somewhat odd. It worked in the context, but I thought it was a little forced. Thirdly, the start is a little slow. There is some worldbuilding that did sort of need to be done, but I felt we could have got to the inciting incident a little faster. It isn’t a big deal, as I’m hardly going to drop the book after a couple of pages, but it could have been tighter. Finally, I think the book should have ended a few pages sooner. I would have liked the heroes to get to enjoy their victory (such as it was) a little more. The actual ending leaned into sequel bait a bit more than I would have liked.

Still, all the noted issues were quite minor, and Cecilia’s story is incredibly compelling (at least for me). I really enjoyed this book, and I’m certainly intrigued to see where the story goes from here. This story keeps things quite clean, but there is still a lot of darkness to explore in here. If you like books that feature a resilient young woman struggling against bullying, bigotry, and giant monsters, I would highly recommend this book. ...more

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Born of Broken Chains: Book 1 of the Gifted Era Wars
by Sam Larson (Goodreads Author)

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This book was quite good. Everything flowed nicely, and it was generally fun to read. It did take me a fair amount of time to get through, but that is mostly because my life got needlessly busy during this time. This was still a nice book to come bac This book was quite good. Everything flowed nicely, and it was generally fun to read. It did take me a fair amount of time to get through, but that is mostly because my life got needlessly busy during this time. This was still a nice book to come back to day after day.

The characters here were solid. The two main ones feel nicely different, and, though they don’t meet up until fairly late in the story, it feels natural that they eventually will. I found Soren to be a nice character to root for, but there was still a wisp of darkness in him to keep things interesting. However, for me, Allia was more compelling. She has weird magic powers and I just tended to find her a little more relatable. Still, both main characters are cool, and the side characters generally fill their roles nicely.

The world itself generally felt complete and interesting. There were a few things that weren’t explained all that much, but there was enough there to allow me to trust that more lingered outside the page. The magic in this book has remained fairly vague. There isn’t much info until the very end, and even then it doesn’t get explored very much (which will presumably change in the second book). Still, the magic, and the story behind it, feels compelling enough to keep me interested.

As for the plot, I felt it was well done. There were a couple hiccups for me, but I am a plot snob, so that isn’t irregular. The general flow of the plot keeps things interesting, and it proved to be a fairly unique story, which is always nice. The dual POV had the potential to make things a little boring, but I felt it was handled quite well. Both characters had compelling struggles and they both were trying to navigate them in their own ways. It’s always nice to be excited for a POV change instead of annoyed.

Regarding things I didn’t like, I have a few minor items: I felt the beginning was a little slower than I would have liked. This is mostly due to a couple of sections that feature non-main-character POVs. These do establish things that are important, but it slows down the development of the characters I really cared about. Secondly, there were a few items in the story that felt a little anachronistic (armchairs, a compass, a house with a few too many separate rooms, etc.). I mostly give these a pass because it's a fantasy world and things could have developed differently (from the real world), but these items did cause me a brief stumble. Thirdly, there is a character called Thane who is an archetype I simply don’t like. His character was done reasonably well, but an overpowered individual villain who seems invincible is simply not something I enjoy (though, this is mostly just personal preference). Fourthly, there were some hints of romance that I felt should have either been developed more or been omitted. It wasn’t a significant issue for me, but I would have preferred it to matter more or not happen. Finally, the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be. Obviously, there are more books coming, but I felt the heroes could have gotten a slightly bigger win to round out this story. What they got was fine, but I would have liked more.

Altogether, I enjoyed this book. My issues with it tended to be on the minor side (or preference), and the story was quite interesting. I’m intrigued to see where the story goes from here, and I think it’s worth a read if you are looking for something YA-friendly that is still willing to throw a few punches. ...more

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The Coldwater Job: A Crucible of Legacy Novella
by Mike Cahoon (Goodreads Author)

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This was a fairly good book. It moved along quickly, and I felt the action was handled well (which is good, since most of the book is action). It is a novella, which certainly had pros and cons, but the story was quite interesting.

I felt the main ca This was a fairly good book. It moved along quickly, and I felt the action was handled well (which is good, since most of the book is action). It is a novella, which certainly had pros and cons, but the story was quite interesting.

I felt the main cast of characters were all distinct and interesting. They are all working together, and it appears they have been for some time, so their personalities have some overlap. Still, they each had enough unique traits to make them relevant. Outside the main cast, there wasn’t really much that I noticed, but that’s reasonable given the action-heavy (and short) nature of the book. There simply isn’t much time for most of the secondary characters.

The world felt really cool. I mostly didn’t know what was going on in the wider world, but it was constantly intriguing. I sort of wish there had been more information given, but the shortness of the book mostly prevented that. Still, the politics and magic of the world were still slipped into the story in a satisfying way that made me want to know more.

The plot here is simple: Sneak in, get the thing, get out. With most of the book focusing on that last part. It does its job well, given the limited time the book has to work with. There were a few actions that I wasn’t sure made complete sense, but they were easy enough to dismiss without causing me to lose sleep. XD

As for issues, I have two: Firstly, some of the descriptions grew a bit over-long. This is at least partially a personal problem, as I really can’t picture scenes in my head, so extra description mostly ends up meaningless to me. Still, I felt there were a few times where the sentences got rather long and it grew a bit hard to read, and these were generally long descriptions. It wasn’t a big deal, but it caused some minor stumbles. Secondly, I had a hard time rooting for the main characters. I think this might be because of the shortness of the book, but I didn’t really know if they were doing something good or something evil, and it made it a bit hard for me to truly invest in their success. It was still an interesting story, but I didn’t get as emotionally invested as I would have liked. This grew more complicated as the plan went awry and people started dying. I just wasn’t sure if the main characters were people I wanted to win.

Altogether, it was a pretty cool story. It was easy to read, and the world felt intriguing. It suffered slightly from not having enough backstory for the main cast, but it somewhat made up for it by being a nice quick read, which I suppose is the nature of a novella. Still, I enjoyed the time I spent reading this, and I am intrigued to see where the greater story goes. ...more

Stephen Jarocki rated a book it was amazing

Crownfall
by Michael Vadney (Goodreads Author)

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So, this book is GOOD. If you’ve never heard of it, you should check it out immediately. If you’ve been thinking about reading this book, just do it. Basically everything in this book is great, and I struggled a fair bit to come up with anything I di So, this book is GOOD. If you’ve never heard of it, you should check it out immediately. If you’ve been thinking about reading this book, just do it. Basically everything in this book is great, and I struggled a fair bit to come up with anything I didn’t like. But you might ask, what’s so great about it?

Firstly, the characters. All three of the main characters are well-written. They’re clever, skilled, broken, desperate, and so very interesting, yet each one feels distinct in the ways they think, act, and struggle. I’m normally not a big fan of multi-POV, but this book solved that by simply making sure there was no lame POV to get annoyed by.

Still, talking about the characters would be incomplete without mentioning the villain. He is the perfect mix of intelligent, arrogant, well-meaning, and irredeemably evil. The story simply wouldn’t be complete without him. The side characters are also solid. Most don’t really stand out very much, but they all had their own quirks and none of them feel like cardboard.

Secondly, the setting. The world here is fascinating. While the story effectively takes place within a single city, the world around it still feels alive. Beyond that, the magic is interesting. The main magic system is a sort of magic-punk using runes and some sort of crystal. Functionally, this gives the story an early 1800s feel, which really works for this particular story. The single city environment also works very well for the intrigue that carries most of this book.

Thirdly, the plot. I’m a bit of a plot snob, but this one constantly and consistently kept me the perfect amount of interested. I always wanted to read more, but not to the point of going crazy (except maybe at the climax, but climaxes are supposed to do that). I felt things developed naturally, and the twists felt earned. I’d also like to take a moment to appreciate the lack of invincible monsters. It would have been so easy to do, but the way this story actually played out worked far better.

Finally, I should touch on the things I didn’t like: The gore was given a bit more detail than I would have liked (though, it did serve to unsettle, so it was doing its job. I’m just a bit sensitive to this sort of thing). There were a few minor plot hiccups where things felt a tiny bit contrived or otherwise happened too quickly (though, even as I write this, I struggle to remember them, so they must not have been too bad). And finally, I felt a few descriptions grew over long (though, I struggle to picture things, so this is likely user error). Still, none of these items detract significantly from the story, and I had to dig around a bit to even come up with these.

That all said, I’d give this book a glowing recommendation. There are cool things that might help to specifically draw you in (like the magic-punk setting or the political intrigue), but ultimately, I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves good stories (which, I assume, is all of you). ...more

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	A Mage's Mentor (Ucksil's Folly Book 1) 4.65 avg rating — 17 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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